Fluid Motion: JetLev-Flyer H2O-Propelled Jet Pack

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Fluid Motion: JetLev-Flyer H2O-Propelled Jet Pack

Jet packs are a cool idea too often undone by their voracious thirst for fuel, which limits your barnstorming to no more than a minute or so. A German entrepreneur has sidestepped that problem by using water pressure to create a "jet pack" he claims will stay aloft for hours.

Provided you're flying over a lake. Like this:

Lars Ramke says the JetLev-Flyer he unveiled at the big Dusseldorf boat show can reach an altitude of about 50 feet and a top speed of about 46 mph. Even more spectacular is his claimed range of 300 kilometers - which is about 186 miles for the metrically challenged.

So how's it work?

Ramke doesn't offer any details at his website, but according to Der Westen, a floating pump powered by a four-stroke engine (115 to 130 horsepower) sends water through a 140-foot-long hose to a pair of nozzles mounted on the "jet pack." It looks a lot like the "personal propulsion device" Canadian inventor Raymond Li patented about two years ago. Li calls it JetLev, for jet levitation.

Li has touted the safety of the contraption, noting that the pack floats, it has no moving parts and the water shoots out of the two nozzles at no more than 100 PSI. You're also no more than a few dozen yards above the water if something goes pear-shaped. That makes the risk a little more acceptable than, say, strapping on a hydrogen-peroxide pack and jetting across a gorge like Eric Scott or soaring over the alps or across the English Channel on homemade jet wings like Yves Rossy.

Ramke says the JetLev-Flyer is a breeze to operate, and the €100,000 ($128,000 U.S.) price tag includes "detailed instructions by a qualified personal trainer." At that price, its no surprise that Ramke told Spiegel most of the people buying them are Russian oligarchs.